Posthuman Blues

K. Eric Drexler's seminal "Engines of Creation" (1992) is now available online as a free e-book. I read "Engines" in high-school and its promises for the future -- both surreal and imminently plausible -- have lingered with me ever since.

In a way, Drexler's book is like Gerard K. O'Neill's "The High Frontier"; both share the same infectious future-is-now quality. But while O'Neill's plans for colonizing the solar system have been put on hold, Drexler's vision has aged remarkably well. At this point, given nanotech's near-unimaginable potential for life extension, industry and autonomous weapons systems, there's no going back.

(Thanks to Boing Boing.)